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Dark Blades Unto Dominance
Cronin put one hand to his to his ear, listening to the slight exchange back and forth from the others over the radio further behind as he crouched in the corner of a ruined shop window, his rifle resting gently in his hands as he scanned ahead through his sight optics. “Zero on Movement Over” He held his breath momentarily before letting it out in a slow exhale as he stood up from his crouch as the rest of his squad moved into view, “Roger, zero on movement Delta Six Over” Sergeant Terence responded, his voice slightly distorted by the static on the line. Cronin stretched his neck before stepping out from his spot and falling into step with the Sergeant as he and the rest of the scout squad appeared, marching up the street Cronin had just been observing, spread out in a skirmish line with the squads support weapon at the front whilst their breacher covered the rear. The sergeant held up a fist before motioning forwards, two of the squad taking off ahead of the unit , jogging up opposite sides of the street before dropping into cover at the next junction, rifles trained on the darkness down the adjoining roads. Cronin’s boot knocked a lump of debris as he moved along, it skittering away into the darkness cast by the shadows of the burnt out habitat blocks they passed. “Objective is less than 500 metres ahead according to recon intel” Terence turned his head, his helmet and ballistics visor covering his face with the Hive-Sec logo emblazoned onto the visors matt surface. “Roger” Cronin nodded, “I want us in and out quietly before we loop back to the company” Terence shifted where his rifle was sitting in his grip, raising one hand to his radio set mounted to his webbing “All Delta’s be advised, 5 Kilo’s and descending until Objective confirmed, repeat 5 Kilo’s and descending. Keep this clean Delta, Circle command wants this place tagged and bagged quick sharp Understood?” The radio link crackled with static for a moment before a series of affirmatives echoed back across the squads comms net. “Least this ones been quiet” Cronin heard a voice from behind him as the squads’ radio officer grumbled quietly from behind him, The trooper next to him rolled her eyes as he noticed Cronin looking back. “Can’t complain aye Corp?” She looked over at him, Cronin shrugged slightly “Reconnaissance by force for you” The sergeant nodded in agreement “Put enough firepower in a small fast package and most things; even the mutes, will leave you alone rather than put its hand in the rippers mouth” He looked at the trooper “Now shut it, Noise discipline” The trooper shrugged as she turned around, walking backwards momentarily as she checked on the next trooper down from her. “Possible contact, movement at 50 plus, observing over” The radio link crackled in Cronin’s ear as the entire squad stopped, weapons instantly up and scanning . Sergeant Terence nodded at Cronin who silently pointed at two troopers and made a punching motion, both nodded and formed up on him as they quickly advanced down to the junction point where their other squad mate was leaning up against a rusted exposed support strut of what had been a traffic control hub. “4th building down, 2nd story on the right edge” Cronin followed his squad mates directions, rifle up and tracking as he did so, the other two switching around to cover his 360 as he did so. He carefully panned his rifles optics around over the area indicated for a minute, a gentle hand press on his back asking a nonverbal question, he moved his foot slightly and tapped once on the questioners back heel, non-verbal for ‘Nothing yet’. He stayed still for another minute and was about to put his rifle down when something ever so slightly shimmered in and out of focus very briefly in the exact window Cronin’s squad mate had pointed to. He had a hard time tracking it with his optics so the fact his squad mate had noted it with just their eye sight was damn good, He looked away from his scope and placed a hand on the troopers helmet, non-verbal ‘Thanks/Good job’ as the trooper looked up and smiled very briefly, his freshly issued pins just visible under his collar. “Gun-Baby” Cronin mouthed silently to himself, fresh out of enforcer basic, “Must have been missed at ranger selection” Cronin thought to himself as with one hand he activated his own comms piece and quietly passed back the contact details to the sergeant. “Push up and investigate, Buzzer on point to cover over” the sergeant replied as the sound of rapid foot steps came from behind, the squads belt fed piece ducking into cover, bracketing the weapon up against a ruined fuse box for support as the heavy weapons trooper set up to cover the street. Cronin motioned to the rookie and the other two, splaying his hand out and gently moving his fingers to indicate a skirmish spread before making a fist. All four moved out together, each one covering an arc of fire as they advanced, the rest of the squad taking up station in a fire line to provide cover if required. Cronin stopped them outside the 4th building, stacking them up to one side before nodding at the rookie “Short fuse, 3 second timer, punch and blow” he whispered as the rookie unhooked a frag grenade, twisted the timer ring and depressed the firing pin before lobbing it into the ground floor, ducking back as the blast blew what little was left of the windows back out into the street, alongside a plume of dust, grit, concrete and other debris as they breached the room spreading out with a chorus of clears echoing back and forth “Room Clear” Cronin called back once the others had sounded off, “Next level go” he nodded to a stair well at the side as the four of them stacked up and pushed the stairs, a grenade thrown over the balcony overlooking to clear the way with another detonation and a cloud of debris and plume of dust, grit and ruined plaster coating them in crap as they pushed up to the room the contact had first been spotted. Pausing only to stack up Cronin led the way in as the other 3 fanned out behind him, weapons up and ready as they tracked back and forth searching for a target. “Room clear” The rookie called as they lowered their weapons, the cloud of debris settling down. Whatever had been in the room was clearly gone now, the room a mess of shredded debris and a blast scorch marking the floor from the grenade detonation. “The Heck’s this?” the female trooper picked up a shredded piece of material, it shimmering slightly as she did , leaving a heat bloom on the underside but staying dark on top. “Heat shroud” Cronin looked around and picked up a piece of innocuous metal, the remains of a scope lens, “We’re being watched” Cronin chugged the lump of metal down as he activated his radio “Delta Actual, Delta Six, confirm observation hide at contact point. Heat shrouding with remains of military grade observation lens. Request immediate fall back to report to command” Cronin looked at his squad mates “The 1st Chapter is going to want to hear about this”…. Territory & Military Situation As with everything military rapid deployments are nothing new to the average member of Hive-Sec, with the new chapter master elected in field by the captains from Task force Dominus from the Ranger Reconnaissance squad on attachment to them the 1st Chapter moves out from its positions around Hass West within little short of a week, veteran companies of Enforcers moving ahead of the Levy Companies following behind, Platoons of rangers roaming ahead in a wide skirmish patrol screen as the entire force flexes like a muscle. Primary orders are circulated through out all officers and command, before being transmitted further down to platoons and squad leads as the 2000 soldiers of Hive-sec push southwards from their staging posts and Obs stations. The Chapter master seems to be keenly aware of the necessity to maintain ground whilst scout units reporting movement from all other civilian strong holds as the first month goes by. Levy companies maintain a tight perimeter as they set the pace of cover and manoeuvre at a platoon scale as the entire force literally rolls forwards in a tide of controlled clearance and breaching. The Enforcer companies push ahead in tight columns of armoured and shielded troops, creating breaches in blockages and holding choke points until relieved by closely following troops, Rangers looping ahead like shadows in the ruins, a constant static click echoing back and forth between them as checks, and rechecks are carried out as the force moves up to occupy, clear and then relieve each potential position of danger in turn. Trailing behind them comes support teams of combat engineers shoring up paths and building small strong points at each choke point, ammo dumps being positioned with defence squads to provide a fall back position in the case of heavy contact. Leading the way however is a force from Task force Dominus itself, a combination of squads drawn from Call sign ’Black shroud’ under the Chapter master& Lt Blaine, as well as a number of other task force front line enforcers. All together they form a demi-company of around 60 odd troops, but the experience from on the ground operations provides the 1st chapter as a whole a much quicker pace of advance due to the quicker series of clear and secure drills being carried out to clear a sure lane of advance for each of the battalions within the army. By the end of the following month every major point of entry and location of interest has been successfully secured with minimal contact from anything mutant based. A series of quick skirmishes with Bandit insurgents are dealt with as the force moves up, with no serious casualties beyond a few energy burns that are dealt with in short order and the troops returned to their assigned unit. The only major potential contact is dealt with by Task Force Domnius personnel themselves, the 60 troops and their Corporals, Sergeants & Lieutenants quickly over run the hap hazard assault with sustained disciplined fire before committing to a breach assault that leaves the bandits leaderless as a squad under Lt Blaine takes the enemy barricade under fire, as a team of Black Shroud squaddies under the units Combat engineer emerges in the middle of the enemy position, detonating the enemies ammo supply with a well placed blasting charge before laying down a wall of accurate fire to cover the levy company coming over the barricade lines led by one Corporal Matthewman. Within a few days the former bandit position is serving as a command centre with infirmary positions put up and the barricades manned by Levy troopers, Rangers attached to enforcer squads moving out on reconnaissance patrols along the outer limit of the territory to maintain an constant observation for any sign of movement. The Chapter master herself heads out with a few of the recon operations alongside her units sniper, conducting sweeps as the 1st chapter set up temporary positions and defensive points to operate from whilst in the territory itself. A conduct by levy troopers starts to provide a clear identity as to the territories original purpose as a number of Construction barns and storage warehouses in poor repair are located to the east, with a set of major civilian industrial installations located due south of the army’s position. Circle command concurs that the territory most likely was a Industrial support zone pre-cataclysm and is detailing recovery units to start pulling what supplies they can from it, sectioning parts of to Task force Dominus as well. The third month comes to a close with little in the way of danger apart from the usual mutant contact and odd bandit patrol being dealt with. A scout squad due west of the aptly named ’Respite’ FOB as the armies position is known by its soldiers calls in a contact shortly before the final week, an observation hide with military grade gear and heat shrouding has been located overlooking the armies main patrol path. Circle command has been notified but leaves the potential observers to be dealt with by the 1st Chapter itself and the liaison Officer dispatched….if the army can find them…. Summary: So the territory to the south has been secured with no contact by Hive-Sec, an Primus Industrial area as well at that. The army has taken no real casualties and is still at full strength as well from it, with the support from Task Dominus paying dividends to that. The circle is sending in recovery forces and is detailing supplies to the task force accordingly. back to Whispers in the Ruins